by lsmith | Sep 18, 2026 | Canva
One of my Quilting… You Say? QAL friends — let’s call her Nancy — is working through the QAL right now. In the QAL, we stress personalizing the quilt — pick fabric colors you like, pick threads that thrill you, pick stitches that seem right to you, and for...
by lsmith | Sep 17, 2026 | Quilting Tips
Picture it: you’re deep in the zone — chain piecing, quilting, stitching on a binding, whatever it is — everything humming along. Then you glance down and realize there’s not a stitch to be found. Your bobbin ran out and you never even noticed. And that...
by lsmith | Sep 17, 2026 | Therapy
The other night, we had a storm warning coming in. After our near-miss with the tornado, I’ve been diligent — cushions off the deck and inside, plants moved to the floor so they won’t blow over, all the usual prep. I finally sat down to work on the couch....
by lsmith | Sep 9, 2026 | Quilting Tips
Our design wall is always busy. I am fortunate to have so many wonderful fabric collections to inspire...
by lsmith | Sep 7, 2026 | Quilting Tips
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Ribbon is one of my favorite ways to level up a project. A little metallic shimmer along a seam, a woven trim tucked into a border — it...
by lsmith | Aug 28, 2026 | Applique Quilting, Classes
I hear you. You want to make the Poinsettia Runner. I know. It’s the one that makes people stop and stare. It’s the one that gets touched, photographed, and coveted at every guild meeting and show. I see your messages. I know what you want. Here’s...
by lsmith | Aug 18, 2026 | Patterns
Most children remember being told: no running in the house, no running with scissors, and for goodness sake, stop fooling around. Well — now that we are all grown up, we can spool around all we want! I still wouldn’t recommend running with scissors though. And I...
by lsmith | Aug 18, 2026 | Patterns, Quilting Tips
In my previous life — the one before quilting consumed me entirely — I traveled extensively for work. I found myself in some very unusual places: the bowels of hospitals, maintenance yards for trains, alongside bottling machines for soda, inside nuclear power plants,...
by lsmith | Aug 18, 2026 | Patterns
My first encounter with wildfire came years ago while working at a federal facility in South Carolina. They were performing prescribed burns — controlled fires designed to clear dead foliage and prevent something larger from igniting later. Only this one got a little...
by lsmith | Aug 9, 2026 | Quilting Tips
August is rolling through and the kids are getting ready to go back to school. Mine kids are well past that, but I did get more time to see them this summer! In between those precious visits, I was busy teaching and publishing new patterns for all of...
